Category: MIL OSI

Source: US FBI

DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that a grand jury has returned an indictment charging Dhal Buk, 18, with carjacking, using a machine gun during and in relation to a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a machine gun.

According to the criminal complaint, in the early morning of June 25, 2025, a group of individuals approached a man seated in his car in the Montbello neighborhood, pointed a gun at him, and told him to get out of his car. Fearing for his life, the man got out of the car. The group got into the car and drove away. Buk was later identified as the individual who pointed the gun at the victim, demanded he exit the vehicle, and got into the driver’s seat. After driving off in the stolen car and colliding with another vehicle in the parking lot, Buk and his accomplices abandoned it and fled on foot.

That same morning, Denver law enforcement officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert of six rounds of fully automatic gunfire in a nearby park. Officers arrived at the park and detained a juvenile accomplice. Officers also arrested Buk after a foot chase. Officers recovered a modified Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun from the scene of the chase. The Glock handgun was equipped with an extended magazine with multiple live rounds. Investigators confirmed the Glock handgun had been altered to fire automatically and was capable of firing multiple rounds with a single trigger pull.

The charges contained in the indictment are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Denver Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Brian Dunn.

Case Number: 1:25-cr-00237-DDD

Source: US FBI

LOS ANGELES – An illegal alien from China was sentenced today to 96 months in federal prison for illegally exporting firearms, ammunition and other military items to North Korea by concealing them inside shipping containers that departed from the Port of Long Beach, and for committing this crime at the direction of North Korean government officials, who wired him approximately $2 million for his efforts.   

Shenghua Wen, 42, of Ontario, was sentenced by United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson.

Wen, who has been in federal custody since December 2024, pleaded guilty on June 9 to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.

Wen is a citizen of the People’s Republic of China who entered the United States in 2012 on a student visa and remained in the U.S. illegally after his student visa expired in December 2013.

Prior to entering the United States, Wen met with officials from North Korea’s government at a North Korean embassy in China. These government officials directed Wen to procure goods on behalf of North Korea.

In 2022, two North Korean government officials contacted Wen through an online messaging platform and instructed him to buy and smuggle firearms and other goods – including sensitive technology – from the United States to North Korea via China.

In 2023, at the direction of North Korean government officials, Wen shipped at least three containers of firearms out of the Port of Long Beach to China en route to their ultimate destination in North Korea. Wen took steps to conceal that he was illegally shipping firearms to North Korea by, among other things, filing false export information regarding the contents of the containers.

In May 2023, Wen purchased a firearms business in Houston, paid for with money sent through intermediaries by one of Wen’s North Korean contacts. Wen purchased many of the firearms he sent to North Korea in Texas and drove the firearms from Texas to California, where he arranged for them to be shipped.

In December 2023, one of Wen’s weapons shipments – which falsely reported to U.S. officials that it contained a refrigerator – left the Port of Long Beach and arrived in Hong Kong in January 2024. This weapons shipment was later transported from Hong Kong to Nampo, North Korea.

In September 2024, Wen – once again acting at the direction of North Korean officials – bought approximately 60,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition that he intended to ship to North Korea.

In furtherance of the conspiracy and at the direction of North Korean officials, Wen also obtained sensitive technology that he intended to send to North Korea. This technology included a chemical threat identification device and a handheld broadband receiver that detects known, unknown, illegal, disruptive or interfering transmissions.

Wen also acquired or offered to acquire a civilian airplane engine and a thermal imaging system that could be mounted on a drone, helicopter, or other aircraft, and could be used for reconnaissance and target identification.

During the scheme, North Korean officials wired approximately $2 million to Wen to procure firearms and other goods for their government.

Wen admitted in his plea agreement that at all relevant times he knew that it was illegal to ship firearms, ammunition, and sensitive technology to North Korea. He also admitted to never having the required licenses to export ammunition, firearms, and the above-described devices to North Korea. He further admitted to acting at the direction of North Korean government officials and that he had not provided notification to the Attorney General of the United States that he was acting in the United States at the direction and control of North Korea as required by law.

The FBI; Homeland Security Investigations; DCIS; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Sarah E. Gerdes of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section and Trial Attorney Ahmed Almudallal of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.

Source: US FBI

LOS ANGELES – An Orange County man who co-founded and served as board member of the financial technology and sustainability services company formerly known as Aspiration Partners Inc., was charged today by criminal information and agreed to plead guilty to defrauding multiple investors and lenders.

Joseph Neal Sanberg, 46, of Orange, is charged with two counts of wire fraud, felonies that each carry a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. He has agreed to plead guilty to both counts.

Sanberg is expected to formally enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks. 

“This so-called ‘anti-poverty’ activist has admitted to being nothing more than a self-serving fraudster, by seeking to enrich himself by defrauding lenders and investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “I commend our law enforcement partners for their efforts in this case, and I urge the investing public to use caution and beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

“For years, Joseph Sanberg used his position at Aspiration to deceive investors and lenders for his own benefit, causing his victims over $248 million in losses,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Criminal Division is committed to pursuing, charging, and convicting fraudsters like Sanberg, who cause significant harm to their victims and undermine our financial institutions.”

“The defendant didn’t just bend the truth, he built a business on a lie to boost the company’s value and line his own pockets,” said Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Criminal Investigations Group. “The Postal Inspection Service will go after this kind of calculated deception. No matter who you are, you will be brought to justice.”

“This is a case about greed and abuse of trust,” said Assistant Director Jose A. Perez of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “Today’s guilty plea is a direct result of the commitment by the FBI and our law enforcement partners to hold those accountable who set out to defraud victims and undermine our financial system. The FBI will continue to work with our partners to ensure this kind of malicious behavior is investigated and stopped.”

According to court documents, beginning in 2020 and continuing into 2025, Sanberg devised a scheme to use his role as a co-founder and board member of Aspiration as well as his shares of company stock to defraud various lenders and investors.

Between 2020 and 2021, Sanberg and Ibrahim AlHusseini, both members of Aspiration’s board of directors, fraudulently obtained $145 million in loans from two lenders by pledging shares of Sanberg’s Aspiration stock. Sanberg and AlHusseini also falsified AlHusseini’s bank and brokerage statements to fraudulently inflate AlHusseini’s assets by tens of millions of dollars to secure the loans. Beginning in 2021, Sanberg also defrauded Aspiration’s investors by concealing that he was the source of certain revenue recognized by the company.

Court documents also state that Sanberg personally recruited companies and individuals to sign letters of intent with Aspiration in which they committed to pay tens of thousands of dollars per month for tree planting services. Sanberg used legal entities under his control to conceal that these payments came from Sanberg rather than from the customers. Sanberg instructed Aspiration employees not to contact the customers that he had recruited to conceal his scheme.

Aspiration booked revenue from these customers between March 2021 and November 2022, but Sanberg did not disclose that he was the source of the payments. As a result, Aspiration’s financial statements were inaccurate and reflected much higher revenue than the company in fact received. Sanberg continued to solicit investors to invest in Aspiration securities into 2025.

According to the documents, Sanberg also defrauded other lenders and investors with fraudulent materials describing Aspiration’s financial condition, including a fabricated letter from Aspiration’s audit committee that falsely stated that Aspiration had $250 million in available cash and equivalents at a time that Aspiration had less than $1 million in available cash. Sanberg used these fraudulent financial materials to obtain millions of dollars in additional loans and investments in Aspiration securities. Sanberg’s victims sustained more than $248 million in losses.

USPIS and the FBI are investigating this matter.

Assistant United States Attorneys Nisha Chandran of the Major Frauds Section and Jenna Williams of the Transnational Organized Crime Section and Justice Department Trial Attorneys Theodore Kneller and Adam L.D. Stempel of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting this case.

If you believe you are a victim in this case, please contact the Fraud Section’s Victim Witness Unit toll-free at (888) 549-3945 or by email at victimassistance.fraud@usdoj.gov. To learn more about victims’ rights, please visit www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-vns/victim-rights-derechos-de-las-v-ctimas. 

Source: US FBI

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A St. Clair County man has been charged with cyberstalking, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona.

A two-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges Michael Ray Mullins, 44, of Trussville, Alabama, with one count of cyberstalking and one count of interstate transmission of a threat to kidnap or injure another person.  These incidents occurred between September and October 2024 in St. Clair County.

The FBI investigated the case along with the Margaret Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel S. McBrayer is prosecuting the case.

An indictment contains only charges. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Source: US FBI

BILLINGS – A Basin, Wyoming man who sexually assaulted a woman on the Crow Indian Reservation was sentenced today to 125 months in prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,988 in restitution, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

Duane Allen Swank, Jr., 36, pleaded guilty in March 2025 to sexual abuse.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.

The government alleged in court documents that on July 4, 2021, Swank was driving a stolen car with Jane Doe and two other passengers. At some point after Swank dropped off the two individuals, while in Billings, Swank sexually assaulted Jane Doe. They then drove toward the Crow Indian Reservation on back roads. During that drive, Swank stopped the car and raped Jane Doe. Following the rape, Swank fell asleep, and Doe was able to escape. DNA extracted from Jane Doe matched the DNA profile of Swank.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The FBI and BIA conducted the investigation.

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